Thursday, August 4, 2011

Will not be able to make it to the Desktop Summit this time

I applied for a business visa for the first time and it was refused :(
I have filed a remonstrance appeal against the decision as the document work on my part was perfect with the invitation and all other documents the GNOME travel committee and KDE e.V. had provided me, but processing it is going to take at least a month (as a visa officer told me over phone) and I wont be able to make it to Berlin before 8th even if I reschedule my trip.

I am deeply sorry for the change in the program caused due to this. I hope that Desktop Summit program committee will find a good replacement for my talk "Knock Knock! What is new?" which was scheduled for the 3rd day (8th August, 2011) of the conference. I am so sad that I won't be able to join GNOME Women's Dinner nor will be able to attend the Women's Networking BoF. I owe my apologies to the GNOME travel committee too for the changes they will have to make because of this. :(

6 comments:

  1. that's really sad! Lesson learned: never apply for any other VISA than a turist one. I had to fight with the employee at the Indian ambassy to have my VISA when I attended GNOME.Asia. I had to tell her "forget about my conference, I didn't tell you anything, I just want to go as a turist". :-(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Will keep that in mind.
    I was not sure if I would be allowed to attend a conference with the tourist visa.
    Also I was scared of hiding the conference details. :(

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  3. Ya, I totally understand how you feel.....and then comes the terrifying cancellation charges.... and then the worst part is the knowledge that VISA procedures aren't even the same with other consulates across the country!!! anyways, in case you ve missed this out, here, this might help you at least a bit... http://blog.lydiapintscher.de/2011/07/29/woah-desktop-summit-is-close/
    gLuck

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  4. You have my sympathies. I am so sorry you had this visa problem that prevented you from attending the GNOME conference. I hope you can attend more easily next year!

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  5. @saidinesh5, thanks for your condolence. I am happy that the GNOME foundation willingly bore my cancellation charges too.

    @brainwane thanks :)

    ReplyDelete

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